"Old Bob"

Sharon Michalove, Editor, H-Albion (mlove@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)
Thu, 25 May 1995 11:58:14 -0600

Date: Thu, 25 May 1995 11:25:44 -0500 (CDT)
From: James Flint <jflint@eagle.ibc.edu>

This is, I hope, a properly Victorian query, though it might deal with
the "wrong" side of the Atlantic.

I am trying to understand a reference in a letter written in 1893. The
writer is amused at having been compared with the humorist Bill Nye and
writes, "You might as well put Mark Twain into a Trappist's cell, or `Old
Bob' into an old-fashioned New England prayer meeting."

Does anyone have any idea to whom "Old Bob" refers? I've checked several
dictionaries of nick-names without success.

You can reply privately, if you prefer, at jflint@eagle.ibc.edu.

Thanks for any help.

James Flint
Illinois Benedictine College
Lisle, Illinois